Beijing Winter Wonderland

It is freezing in Beijing! Literally! I woke up to Bronwen knocking at my door telling me I HAD to get up because it was snowing outside! AND IT WAS! I think she woke me up around 8 and there was a good inch or two outside and it was still coming down! I decided I should definitely go back to sleep seeing how I didn’t really want to spend any time outside today.

I woke up again at about 11:30 which was late for me, but we didn’t get back from the amusement park until late so I think that’s why! Randi knocked on my door to let me know nobody really thought it was the best night to go to the night market..which I agreed! She also wanted to see if I was still going to go to the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall. I said I still wanted to because (Dad I get this from you) I just wanted to “get out of the house!”

We went to find Ali, but heard she was out taking pictures, so Randi, Callum and I decided to go to the museum (Bronwen needed to study!) So I felt like the leader and led everyone to the subway, although our entrance was closed, so we walked a little further to another entrance! It took us about 40 minutes and 2 stops to get to Qianmen and when we exited I had no idea where to go! But we finally managed to find it!

Now I am not much of a museum girl but I actually found (at least parts) of this one interesting! The 4D movie was broken so we saw the 3D movie which had a cool layout of Beijing, like we were flying over it! I thought some of the museum was boring, but it had an AMAZING 3D layout of Beijing on the 3rd floor that you looked at from the 4th floor! It was awesome to see the city from a bird’s eye view!

We left the museum and headed back to the hostel. We decided to meet again at 6:00 for dinner. Since Steven was going to join us and it was too cold to do the night market we thought we would ask him to take us to a Chinese place so he could order for us! But at 6:15 Randi called him and he said it was too cold so he wasn’t coming! We thought it was interesting that he didn’t call and wondered if it was a cultural thing (in the U.S. you are suppose to call if you’re going to be late, or especially if you’re not coming at all!) or just a Steven thing!

The four of us (Ali, Randi, Callum and I) decided Italian instead! That was mostly me actually; I was starving and craving Italian! We walked to a place we knew had Italian and it was SO cold! I checked the weather and it says it feels like 4 degrees! UGH it felt like it too! ESPECIALLY when the wind picked up!

We weren’t sure if our Italian place was open because there were no lights on, only candles. But we ventured in and it really was beautiful by candlelight! They said they only had pasta and salad. So yes, apparently they lost power! We said that was fine, it made choosing easier! We were just about to order and the lights came back on! So much for our romantic evening! We all got pasta, but it really was great, as was the bread! All in all it was a wonderful, snowy, cold day in Beijing!

A couple of side notes.. I haven’t said much about the hostel, but it is nice! I always see the cleaning ladies and the bathroom and halls are always clean. They empty the trash in my room but that’s about it! The toilet is very strange. When you flush it, it sounds somewhere in-between a plane getting ready for takeoff (not the HEAVY sound but the squeaky sound) and the Seabrook Power Plant siren (that I use to be DEATHLY afraid of and I think I still get flashbacks when I flush this toilet!)

I have also noticed that in China in general people are always cleaning! The subway system is very nice because people are always picking up garbage, mopping the floors, etc. I guess it gives more jobs to people AND keeps the area clean, but I always seem to see people emptying trash and picking up paper, etc.

Other updates..I am still working on updating pictures..details to follow. Also, I have an address for where I am staying in Vietnam. I kept bugging the guy in charge and he gave me this address, but I am not positive it is a mailing address (or that it can accept mail). AND I also found out I am only staying at this house from November 23rd (Scott’s birthday and 3 days after mine..wahooo!) until November 29th, because the volunteer program is no longer using this house but another one. So if anyone does want to send mail, I can’t guarantee it will be delivered to me (so save all the expensive stuff for when I get home)! Also, since I am only going to be there a short amount of time it would need to arrive while I am there! I hope this helps..here is the address.
207/56 Ba Thang Hai Street, Ward 11, District 10, HCMC
If I get the address of the other place in Vietnam I will send that along, but my stay in Cambodia is too short for mail and I already sent the Thailand address! Hope this helps!

Hugs and kisses from a snowy Beijing!